By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
A few minutes before a baseball game starts, a guest of honor walks to the mound and throws a ball, which usually falls short of a catcher squatting 18.44 meters away or sails far above his head.
This is the ceremonial first pitch, which marks the start of a game and has become an attraction in baseball. Since the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) began 26 years ago, people from a variety of fields have partaken in the honor.
On March 27, 1982, former South Korea President Chun Doo-hwan, who started the Korean professional baseball league, was the first to throw the ball in the KBO's historic opening game.
Since then, about 50 politicians, including former Presidents Kim Young-sam and Roh Moo-hyun, have tossed out opening pitches.
Kim, a sports enthusiast, visited the mound three times ― the openers of the Korean Series in 1994 and 1995 and the season opener in 1995 ― while Roh threw the first pitch before the 2003 All-Star game.
President Lee Myung-bak was scheduled to throw before this year's opening game, but the plan was cancelled because of security issues.
However, Lee did throw a first pitch in 2003 when he was the mayor of Seoul.
In Major League Baseball (MLB), U.S. presidents usually throw at least one ceremonial first ball each year, either for opening day, the All-Star game or the World Series.
Since former President William Howard Taft started the tradition in 1910, Franklin D. Roosevelt is the president to throw out the most opening pitches, performing the honor nine times ― eight pitches on opening days and one at an All-Star game.
Current U.S. President George W. Bush threw first pitches in five opening games and one World Series.
While fewer and fewer Korean politicians have been throwing out opening pitches since the late 1990s, more and more entertainers have taken their spots.
Actress Kang Soo-yeon became the first entertainer to toss out a ceremonial first pitch in 1989. She was followed by actor Han Suk-kyu in 1998, actor Choi Soo-jong in 2001 and singer Rain in 2004.
There's a growing trend of baseball clubs inviting female singers and actresses, some of whom have made headlines with their pitching forms, which involve high leg kicks or sidearm throws.
Before Park Tae-hwan won an Olympic gold medal in Beijing, the swimming star threw out the first pitch in Game 1 of last year's Korean Series.
Kim Dong-moon, who won a badminton gold medal in men's doubles at the 2004 Athens Olympics, was invited to the same game.
Super Bowl Most Valuable Player (MVP) Hines Ward of the Pittsburgh Steelers took the mound in the season opener in 2006, and figure skating star Kim Yu-na did so in the first game of this season.
Since ordinary people were first given a chance to throw out opening pitches in 1989, many of them have created moving moments.
Korean-American adoptee Adam King, who is missing both his legs, pitched the ball before the first game of the 2001 season, while a cerebral palsy patient stood on the mound in 2004.
The Heroes, a team that joined the Korean league this season, have a policy of not using celebrities to throw opening pitches, which gives ordinary people more chances.